Upper-Level Writers

Guidance for Upper Level Writers

These materials are intended to facilitate self-reflection and peer review among students writing upper-level/scholarly papers, as well as provide seminar professors a grading rubric. The guidance materials are presented as a series of questionnaires students can use to introduce discipline into the independent writing process. The questions should be deployed at key writing milestones: the thesis statement, the outline, the first draft, the second draft, and the penultimate draft.

The goal of this guidance is to raise student awareness of the high expectations of their audience, provide a structured writing process, and ultimately encourage a sense of confidence and self-sufficiency in the writer. As such, these review questions and rubrics can be used in practice, well after the student has completed the upper level writing requirement. The materials can also benefit seminar professors who may choose to assign periodic self-checks outside of class and use the rubric to articulate their expectations and later grade the paper.